Unless the last answer is coming from a different country, embryonic and fetal stem cells are NOT illegal.

Bush passed legislation that prevented federal funding from funding any embryonic or fetal stem cell research with the exception of a handful of projects that had already been proven contaminated or otherwise worthless.

The research was still legal and could be funded privately or even on a state level. However, since embryonic stem cell research is in its infancy, few private sources were willing to fund the research. Not only is it not 100% certain that the research will pay off, you are looking at 20-50 years at a min before this stuff is available publically and people start seeing returns on investments

Obama lifted the ban on federally funding embryonic stem cell research. However, with all the other economical issues, not much funding has been directed to it.

Embryonic stem cells come from IVF's trash pile. Women who go through IVF have their eggs harvested, they are fertalized with sperm in a lab and then frozen. WIth each mentstrual cycle, a few embryos at a time are inserted into the uterus hoping one will implant. They usually dont, it takes several cycles to produce a pregnancy, and all the embryos that dont implant die. When the mother is done trying to conceive, there are often embryos left over. Since most people going through IVF are doing so to have their own biological children, few are willing to donate their embryos to other women or accept donated embryos from other women. So, they are either incinerated as biowaste, or donated for research.

IVF kills more embryos than embryonic stem cell research, and will continue to, even if embryonic stem cell research stops today.

Fetal stem cell research is the least effective and least popular. But any woman can donate the remains from her abortion or naturally miscarried fetus.

C. is difficult to answer. Embryonic stem cells can turn into almost any type of cell in the body, however, early trials have led to cancer and other issues. Adult stem cells themselves arent turning cancerous after treatment (though keep in mind, they CAN become cancerous.... leukemia is cancer of the person's adult stem cells - their bone marrow.. If stem cells can turn cancerous before donation in the host body, they absolutely can after donation). Although, the most popular adult stem cell treatment is a bone marrow transplant, and that requires high dose chemo and full body radiation, which DOES increase the patients risk of cancers, including the same types that transplant treats.

In addition, adult stem cells have treatments, while embryonic stem cells dont. However, adult stem cells have been researched for about 100 years, and a bone marrow transplant has been available for 50. After all that time and research, they only have a handful of treatments. They just happened to get lucky because a bone marrow transplant can treat like 100+ different diseases - anything that originates or damages the blood system, marrow, or immune system.

Embryonic stem cells have only been researched for like 20-30 years. You wouldnt expect a treatment out of them, and precious adult stem cells took over 50 years to have a single succesful treatment in a single patient. If we had stopped adult stem cells after 20-30 years of research, we would never have anything that has come from it (and that is my debate against the people who claim embryonic stem cell research is worthless because it doesnt have treatments...... these people have no idea how long it took to develop a bone marrow transplant. and they have no idea how dangerous that transplant still is today, 50 years from its invention.

So, its really complicated and controversial.

I dont have any ethical issues against using bone marrow. My problem is that the bone marrow transplant is portrayed to be far safer than it really is. My problem is that anti embryonic people use the number of diseases this single treatment can treat to make it sound like adult stem cells have hundreds of different treatments, when they only have a handful. My problem is the misrepresentation of how long adult stem cell research has been conducted to make it look like they have accomplished way more than what they have in a way shorter amt of time. (for example, there is a particular user on ya that claims adult stem cells have only been researched for 20-30 years as well, but have hundreds of different treatments... its bs, based on manipulating the truth.)

The only people really against adult stem cell reserach are those against western medicine as a whole, and those who do not understand the difference bw adult and embryonic stem cells. I have been through a bone marrow transplant, so I am not against it. I just support being truthful about its flagship treatment.

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A few questions about stem cells? | Yahoo Answers